120 
NOTES. 
former accounts given of this serpent have received little 
credit, I was not, at first, prepared to expect what I after¬ 
wards had the good fortune to see. I state these facts, that 
those who know me may be assured of them; and also that 
naturalists may, from the statement given, begin to have 
some notion of the habits of this animal. 
444 The whale was said to be of the humpback kind; and 
an unusual number of whales has, of late, been said to have 
been seen in Boston Bay. 
44 4 The persons on board, who became companions with 
me in this sight, were two sea-captains, besides Captain West, 
with various passengers, and the crew of the vessel. Cap¬ 
tain West has separately made oath to a part of the above 
particulars. (Signed) 
“‘Samuel Schmid.’ 
“ 4 Kennebec, ss. 
“ 4 Hallowell, June 27,1818. 
44 4 Then the above-named Samuel Schmid personally ap¬ 
peared, and made oath to the truth of the foregoing statement 
of facts ; before me, (Signed) 
44 4 John Merrick, 
Justice of Peace' ” 
I would like to have Prof. Owen, or Sir Charles Lyell,tell 
us, if they can, to what length the largest shark was ever known 
to grow. They contend, that there is a rare shark in the sea, 
which sometimes grows to the length of thirty or forty feet. 
I will admit it, for the sake of argument, and even be gener¬ 
ous enough to give them ten feet more in length, making 
fifty feet; and yet, even with that length, it would certainly 
be impossible for a shark to throw his tail out of the water 
twenty-five or thirty feet, and his head fifteen feet, and still 
leave room enough for a vessel to sail between them. This 
animal was at least a hundred feet in length : could it have 
been a shark ? — On page 42, the lieutenant, talking of ice 
islands, says, 44 where devils and foxes howled and chattered .” 
I find, in 44 An Account of Two Voyages to New England, 
Anno. Dom. 1638, by John Josselyn, Gent.,” that he men- 
